July 8, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #38
Today we begin to leave for Portland, Oregon for the “See for Yourself” tour of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) soybean exporting facilities put on by the ND Soybean Council (NDSC) that we all see each year in the Soybean Grower Magazine. By begin to leave, I mean that the group of a dozen or so travelers meet today (Monday) at NDSC HQ in Fargo for a briefing/orientation thing....
June 19, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #37
Hello once again, producers and others interested! I took some time after the session to recover while you dealt with an often tortuous planting season and now while you look for opportunities to spray, I rejoin you via blog to relay the core of whatever assignment comes my way. Monday and Tuesday found me in Sioux Falls as it was South Dakota’s turn to host the...
May 7, 2019
Five Take-a-ways from the 2019 ND Legislative Session
#1 The urban – rural divide can be bridged. The surprising success of the farm home exemption bill showed us that. Only a few were against it in the Senate and it garnered over 70 yeas in the House. To me, it was a favorable vote from our urban brothers and sisters that bodes well for agriculture. There are fewer and fewer strictly rural districts in our state with that...
May 5, 2019
Livestock Benefits Overview
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April 29, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #36
It’s over. The 66th North Dakota Legislative Session lasted 76 working days plus one or two where they did not hammer a floor session in yet worked in committees. The prognostications made at 7 a.m. Friday in #35 held up through the 10 p.m. finish in that the grain inspection program moving to Ag killed in 2346 was passed in the Ag budget bill #2009. Basically, the intent...
April 26, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #35
Day 76 of 80. Yesterday, 1020 was settled stopping 4 years of financial backsliding for NDSU Ag Research and Extension. In general terms, the House agreed to the Senate position of not only holding even, but along with a raise and benefit package, some money to help catch up a bit. Not all the way, but researchers, main and branch alike should have some morale restored and...
April 24, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #34
Well. 2346 took yet another interesting turn this morning on the Senate floor when it was defeated 3-44. Normally, that would be the end of a bill this late in the session, but not this time. Maybe. You will recall that the PSC runs the grain inspection program and 2346 had been amended in the House to move the program to the Ag Department. So being killed this morning...
April 23, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #33
Many of the issues we were involved in are being settled: Today, 2224 – the Bioscience bill passed the Senate which means it now goes to the Governor. That holds the potential for high value-added commercial use, especially in the ag and medical arenas.
Also on the Senate floor, 2345 – the animal feeding operation bill – passed the Senate this afternoon and goes to...
April 23, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #31
After the Senate morning floor session from 8 to 9, the chair of Energy and Natural Resources brought the full committee back to work on a couple of bills. Understanding that all bills were supposed to be out of committee quite a while ago, I thought I had better check it out. What followed was a prime example of what can happen in a hurry and out of the blue during the...
April 23, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #32
Legislative Day 73 of 80. In most of the many office pools around this building, Day 74, 75 or 76 were the most popular guesses to end the session and it appears they were wrong, although there is an outside chance Friday late at night could do it.
What is getting done? Yesterday 1171 passed the Senate and is set to become law. It combines two bills which set up both a loan...
April 15, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #30
Ag-related issues are going to be some of the last to be dealt with as far as I can tell. Neither animal feeding operations (2345), automatic trespass (2315) nor 2346 (grain licensing) have met in conference committee. It would be more surprising than Tiger Woods winning the Masters if any of those three are done in two, let alone one conference. It is day 67 and they want...
April 11, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blogs 2019 | #29
Finally, 2139 – the snagging and clearing bill which restores state cost share has passed both houses! This was a big deal for producers as far as I was concerned but the back and forth of the process seemed never ending. It ended up being amended to add another member to the State Water Commission appointed by the Governor, so it would seem to be something the Governor...
April 9, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #28
As bills are being agreed upon and others are being killed, in some ways things slow down as one would expect. You see signs of it as legislators from some committees begin to loiter in the hallway, take longer lunches or whatever. On the other hand, the concentration of issues going into depth as they head to Conference committee makes for plenty of consternation. People...
April 4, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #27
The companion bill to farm home exemption that ensures confidentiality of financials passed today. 2278 also says that if a farmer wants the exemption they must apply.
NDSU Research and Extension has been having their budget heard (1020) the past two days in Senate Appropriations and the latest word is that their budgets have been restored from cuts across the hall. That...
April 2, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #26
Well, it is not directly agricultural, but the House just failed to join the Senate in overriding the Governor’s veto raising driver’s license fees. The link to agriculture is that of course, more funding for our roads and bridges would be beneficial to our producers rather than using the $5.5 million for subsidizing production of our licenses. Also less than ten minutes...
March 29, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #25
Yesterday was Day 55 of the up to 80 day session. Yesterday the Senate overrode the Governor’s veto of 2244 which was the increase of driver’s license fees from $15 to $30. Proponents of 2244 argued that the revenue raised per biennium (I believe I heard in the neighborhood of $5.5 million) was needed because the DOT was not charging enough to fund the expense of issuing...
March 26, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #24
A Rather General Discussion: Just as an example of how things are never quite over during a session, take yesterday’s killing of 2275 on the House floor. That is an infrastructure revolving loan fund described as a companion bill to Prairie Dog (1066) which has already passed. Already this morning, language was inserted in 2020 – the State Water Commission budget bill –...
March 22, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #23
After the fireworks yesterday on the hearing for 2346 (grain inspection and licensing), the Senate Ag Chair stated that they would not work on 1467 (shifting the enforcement of grain inspection and licensing from the PSC to the Ag Dept.) today to let emotions settle down. Then they promptly began to work on it. The upshot is that a) they really want to do the best they can...
March 21, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #22
Thursday, the 50th day of the session and things are getting heated in some regards as choices get made. People watching the House floor today said legislators were getting rather contentious with each other at one point. And just now in the continued hearing for 2346 – the bill that would affect changes in grain licensing and inspection – some emotions were at the boiling...
March 18, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #21
There was a residual amount of luck from St. Patty’s Day that landed on 2360 today. It passed 74 to 18 and if nothing tampers with it, North Dakota farmers will have a new farm home exemption formula. Chief sponsors were Senators Dotzenrod, Wanzek, Erbele with Representatives Holman and John Nelson. So now if 66% of your gross income is from the farm, you qualify. It is in...
March 15, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #20
Looks like I-94 opened up just in time to let the lawmakers go home for the weekend. 1066, the gigantic infrastructure bill coined “Operation Prairie Dog” passed both houses and is heading for the Governor. It will distribute oil tax monies to several funds and eventually end up filling counties and township buckets after some larger cities and everyone else (over one...
March 13, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #19
The last couple of days have seen a lot of activity with the farm home exemption (2360) as we try to get a feeling for the floor vote by speaking to as many House members as possible. Right now I would say it has a fighting chance. The bill has been held in committee while hoping for a result better than the 7-7 vote we had last week. The House Finance and Tax committee...
March 8, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #18
This morning was spent listening to the back and forth on 1467 which is about transferring grain licensing duties from the PSC to the Agriculture Department. A frustrated PSC Commissioner Randy Christmann maintains that his agency has been hamstrung when it comes to looking at financial records –a key part of evaluating licensing – even though he has been asking for...
March 7, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #17
Yesterday, we spent a couple of hours in the afternoon at the Public Service Commission office discussing grain inspection and licensing. I would typify it as an excellent meeting and the Commissioner thanked us for engaging. He also mentioned that he wished other commodity groups would get involved at the same level.
Then we hustled down to House Finance and Tax where the...
March 6, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #16
There is nothing like a Monday drive to Bismarck through alternating whiteouts to make one appreciate being back in the Capitol. These last two days for your legislative crew has centered around the farm home exemption bills which, having passed the Senate, were up for their House hearing Wednesday in Finance and Tax committee.
There are two bills appearing back to back in...
March 1, 2019
Murphy’s Law Blog 2019 | #15
Welcome to March 1. This was a short week as the session grinds back into action like a semi-frozen combine in December. Today I spent all morning in House Energy and Natural Resources listening and eventually testifying on 2139 which seeks to reinstate the State Water Commission cost-share for snagging and clearing. That bill is all about roads and bridges and I testified...